Camping
by Skyestorm
Summary: Grape has hidden feelings for Peanut, but can't tell him without ruining their friendship, as well as breaking Tarot and Max's hearts.  Can she survive a week with him?
1. Not A Cat?

I leaned my head against the car seat. Two more hours until we arrived at the campsite where the five of us- Maxwell, Peanut, Tarot, Sabrina and I- would be staying. I turned my head to look at Peanut. He snored against the window, his headphones slid down till they looked like they would wrap around his neck and choke him. I giggled and pulled them back over his head. I caught a bit of the song when I did so:

_Tonight, you're with friends_

_And until the journey ends_

_You are braver, and stronger,_

_Why can't this night last longer?_

I giggled again. Of course, a D&D song. He was such a nerd. Still…. It was kind of adorable, in an innocent sort of way. Not like Maxie, with his false bravado and flirtiness and in-control attitude…

All my giggling woke Peanut up. "Wuh… are we there yet?" he muttered, grogginess smothering his puppy-like features.

"No, Peanut," I smiled. "Just go back to sleep." But he ignored me and started drawing. "ooh, is that a new Spot (superdog) comic?" I asked. "Can I see?"

He pulled it away. "Not until I'm done!" he whined.

"Fine," I grumbled. I closed my eyes, and in a second was whisked away to the darkness of dreams.

* * *

><p>"<em>GRAAAAAAAAAAAAPPEEEE!<em>_" _Peanut shouted in my ear.

"WHAT?" I shrieked, startled awake. "And if you ever do that again, I'll kill you… lovingly."

"I finished!" he grinned, holding up the drawing. It depicted Spot (superdog) with his girlfriend Stripes, who despite all appearances is _not_ a cat, flying over an island kissing.

"It's… beautiful, Peanut," I muttered, embarrassed. He looked at me quizzically before turning back to drawing something else.

Truth be told, it _was _beautiful. It was amazing. I just…

I just wish it was me and Peanut.


	2. Choices, Choices

"We're here!" Dad called, waking me up. After sleeping for hours, it was painful to get up and walk around.

"Where are the others?" I asked.

"Maxwell, Sabrina, and Tarot? They're driving up in a separate car." Mom explained.

I stumbled, my balance off from sitting down for five hours. "I gotcha," Peanut said, catching me in his arms.

"Tha-thanks," I mumbled, my fur blushing red and tail poofing up.

"What's wrong, honey?" Mom cooed, hugging me.

"I- uh… I'm just…. Sad you'll be leaving, that's all," I stammered.

"Well, I'm sure you'll have tons of fun. Just remember," Dad warned, "I don't want you and that Maxwell alone with each other!"

"But Dad," I whined, "You let Peanut and Tarot alone all the time!"

"Well, I don't trust that Maxwell tom of yours. Stay away from him!"

"Honey, what your father's trying to say is that he loves you and doesn't want you getting into trouble," Mom soothed me. "Now, you two go have fun. See you Sunday."

We turned and faced the campsite. For Peanut, it was a week of fun. For me, a week of torture, trying even harder than normal to hide that I liked Peanut.

Don't get me wrong, I love Maxie too. But, while Max tries to be "in charge" and manly and is all bluster, Peanut is genuinely sweet an innocent.

Why do I have to make this choice- a choice between normality and satisfaction, or secrets and love?


	3. Canoeing

"So, what do you guys want to do first?" Tarot asked. "Remember, we've got five days here, so we'll need to spread out our activities to last the whole week."  
>"A whole week?" Maxie asked. "We'll be lucky if we can squeeze everything in! There's fishing, swimming in the lake, hunting, building a bonfire, hiking, canoeing-"<br>"Ooh!" Peanut's pointy ears perked up. "Canoeing! Can we go? Please? Please? Please?" He was literally shaking with excitement.  
>Usually, cats hate getting wet, but his expression was so pathetically adorable that I had to give in. "Yeah, guys, let's go canoeing!"<p>

After renting two canoes for the day, we had to carry them over to Lake Prevatte. Maxie and I climbed into one, and Tarot and Peanut shared the other. Using our oars, Maxie and I rowed out, almost knocking over the boat in the process. "Jeez, haven't you ever been in a boat before?" Maxwell snapped at me. My tail twitched angrily. _Peanut_ would never have treated me like that!

We lapsed into silence for a while, Maxie staring at me. Then, to break the silence- _I_ thought it was uncomfortable, but surely Maxie thought it was romantic- we settled into the same subject we _always_ talked about- Pridelands. Sometimes it felt like that was _all_ we ever talked about- Pridelands, Pridelands, Pridelands. Didn't we have anything else in common? I wondered what Peanut was talking about with Tarot. Chances are, he was over there on the other side on the lake right now, holding her hand and sweetly whispering love songs in her ear, while she flirted with him like no tomorrow.  
>"Hey, Maxie? You want to play a prank on Peanut and Tarot?" He looked interested. "Here's what we'll do…"<p>

"So… Tarot," I said awkwardly.  
>"Yes, Peanut?" Hey Eye of Horus tag glinted as she leaned forward.<br>"Um… how are you?" I asked, leaning back. Tarot was the first girlfriend I'd ever had. I wasn't quite sure what I was supposed to say.  
>"Terrific! I'm really excited about getting to spend a whole week here with you! It's like one big double date!" She smiled and cuddled up closer to me.<br>"Oh! Um," I stammered, backing up again. "Oh, look at that shiny water! Let's paddle towards it." I grabbed my oar, but before I could do anything, Tarot's eyes glowed green, and the canoe sped off.  
>"Silly!" she chuckled. "I'm magic, remember?"<br>Luckily, Grape and Max's stupid prank saved me.

"COWABUNGA!" Max and I screamed with excitement as he cut the cord holding the tree back. With a _snap!_, the tree lurched upwards, launching the canoe lodged in its branches upwards as well.  
>"Hang on!" I shouted as we hung, suspended, before falling back down as fast as a speeding bullet. With a huge splash that launched half the lake upwards in a giant wave, we crash-landed right next to Peanut's watercraft. It was carried by the crest of the wave, and splashed back down to the bottom.<br>Maxie and I peered over the top of our canoe anxiously, waiting to see their expression, when another splash from behind us made us turn around.  
>Tarot, her eyes glowing, lowered the raft back down from where she's held it in midair.<br>Peanut gazed, beaming, at her. "That was _amazing!_" You could practically see the hearts floating off of him.

_Sigh. _So, that backfired.


	4. Take a Hike

"Good morning, sleepyhead!" Maxie shook my tent. "Rise and shine, _lovely_!"  
>"Was that sarcastic?" I asked, opening my groggy eyes. His laughter as he walked away gave me the answer.<p>

"So, what'll we do today?" I asked, rubbing my stomach. I'd sort of gorged myself on a lovely breakfast of fish and bacon that Tarot conjured up. Of course, there was a downside to that as well- it just made Peanut even more smitten than before.  
>"Well, we were at the lake yesterday, so I vote for a <em>dry<em> activity today," Maxie answered before anyone else could talk. "How about hiking?"  
>Tarot frowned. "But I thought we were going to go swi-"<br>"Hiking it is, then!" Maxie flashed his infamous toothy grin. Swinging his arm over my shoulder, slinking his tail jauntily, he sauntered off. "Shall we go?"

We decided- well, _Maxwell_ decided- to hike up Coomb's Peak, one of the tallest mountains in the area. We would hike up to the top, have a picnic for lunch, then walk back down to our campsite by sundown. "_You're_ carrying the picnic basket, though, darling. You know I would, but, um, I can't because I… um, because- oh! I have to carry the map! Right, so we don't get lost!" Maxwell flashed his grin, grabbed the map out of Peanut's paws, and strutted off. With a sigh, I followed.

"So, Peanut," Tarot smiled adorably, "we haven't gotten to spend much time together since we got here."  
>I took her hand. Ever since she'd had the canoe hover, I'd realized what this really was. I was dating a <em>superhero<em>! I looked at her in a different light now. I still had no idea how to act around her, but for some reason it didn't matter anymore. We were together. _That's_ what mattered.

"So, Grapey, what's new?" Maxwell squeezed my hand.  
>"Maxie, what has gotten <em>into<em> you lately? You're _forcing_ us to go hiking, you're making me carry the food- you're being a _jerk_!"  
>Maxwell stopped. We were behind Peanut and Tarot, so they kept walking without us. "A <em>jerk<em>? I'm just trying to have fun! Instead of being so selfish, think of it from _my_ point of view! I'm only trying to make this week _fun_!"  
>"Selfish? <em>You're<em> the one being selfish! While you're 'having fun', you're ruining it for the rest of us! If Peanut-"  
>Maxwell laughed. "<em>Peanut<em>? This is about _Peanut_? Grape, he's a dog! Do you know what would happen if anyone at home knew? _You're_ the one being selfish! If you would give yp this petty infatuation with that _dog_-"  
>"Peanut is more than 'just a dog', he's ten times the gentleman you are! At least he thinks about other <em>people<em>!" I yelled this last bit loudly, having lost the last shreds of self-control. There was a rumble, then two canine screams up ahead.  
>Max and I looked at each other, our argument forgotten for the moment. "Rockslide!"<p>

"Peanut! Tarot! Are you all right?" I called out as we ran to the place we'd seen them last.  
>The damage wrought by the rockslide was catastrophic. The entire side of the mountain had caved in; the trail was buried under a pile of rocks. There was no sign of Peanut or Tarot anywhere.<br>"Tarot!" Maxwell called. "Peanut! Tarot! Anyone? HELP!"  
>"Max? Help!" a voice called, faint underneath the rubble. Maxie and I ran towards it.<br>"Peanut? Is that you?"  
>"Yeah," Peanut breathed faintly, "it's me. I'm bruised pretty bad, but more importantly, I can't find Tarot anywhere. I think she might have been knocked out by the slide. Help me find her!"<br>"Okay," I said, thinking fast, "Max, you look on that half, and I'll check over here. Be _very careful_! If you move the wrong way, you'll knock over more rocks and you could bury them under there!"

Maxie is the one that found her. She was buried, unconscious, under at least ten feet of stones, but there was a hole at the top that showed us where she was.  
>To get them out, we had Peanut <em>carefully<em> climb upward until we could hoist him out, and then here _carefully_ dug down to where Tarot was lying prone. Lifting her up, I grabbed her and pulled her out, then Peanut used Maxie's tail to pull himself up and out. (Maxie wasn't too happy about that, but it had to be done, and I was carrying a fluffy, psychic Pomeranian.) Obviously, once we got everyone to safety, we made our way back to the campgrounds instead of finishing the hike.  
>"Are we gonna go home?" Maxie asked Peanut anxiously as he laid Tarot down in her sleeping bag. "Because we've only been here two days, and it would be a waste to leave now."<br>I rolled my eyes at Maxwell's selfishness. "Maxie, they were just _buried under a mountain_! Yes, we're going home!"  
>Peanut looked up. "Actually, I'm with Max here. None of us was seriously injured, and Tarot shouldn't even that bad of a headache tomorrow. I'm all for staying! But we can't tell our parent's this happened," he said. "They would kill us."<br>And that was that.

"Grape?" Peanut walked over to me. We had just finished dinner- fish and bacon, again- and it was my turn to wash the mess kits. Tarot has woken up by then, and after we explained how she had been rescued- with a lot of added sound effects from Peanut- she readily agreed to staying for the remainder of the week. "I just wanted to thank you for helping me and Tarot out there. We might still be trapped down there if it weren't for you." He leaned over and gave me a quick, warm peck on the cheek.  
>I felt my face heat up. "It was nothing," I managed to stutter out, before wheeling around and running into my tent.<br>That stupid dog isn't making this easy for me at _all_, is he?


	5. Something Fishy

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**** Hey guys! So since this is the 5th chapter, I decided I'd add an actual author's note this time. I'm _so_ sorry it's taken me so long to update this! I've just had a really busy schedule recently. But I'm back! I plan on posting the sixth chapter near the beginning of October, but we'll see. Also, I'm sorry, this chapter does have a bit of cursing in it. I'm trying to get closer to my actual writing style instead of how I was writing before. Not sure if what I'm doing now is better or worse, but it's a bit longer, which I consider a plus.**

**And now to answer some reviews:**

**angelmar741: I'm glad you like it! I'm trying to make the chapters longer, so don't worry. Also, thank you for mentioning how I'm trying to make Grape realistic! I'm really glad someone caught that.**

**jacruz666: Here's your update! And yes, I definitely prefer the ones where Grape _doesn't_ throw herself into Peanut. It just feels so _unrealistic_.**

**Katdog: Here you go.**

**Furder: That's definitely the angle I was originally going for, but this story _does_** **maybe have a happy ending for GrapeNut fans, so he is starting to respond to her feelings a _little_. Or at least I tried to hint at that.**

**There _should_ only be 2 more chapters left, but I might have had an idea that would allow me to be able to extend it into 10 chapters, with a really long last one. We'll see.**

**Without further ado: Chapter 5, "Something Fishy"!**

"Hey guys!" Sabrina shouted. "Sorry I'm late!"

It was the afternoon, about 3 o'clock. Everyone had slept in late after the tumultuous events of the previous day. Tarot, the last to arise, hadn't awoken until nearly one. She said she felt fine, though I chalked it up to her supernatural powers.  
>Sabrina sat her duffel bag down, ran over to where the four of us were sitting at the wooden table, playing cards. She quickly gave each of us a quick hug. "I know I was supposed to get here last night, but there was a heck of a lot of traffic. We stopped and asked some people, and they said something about an avalanche. Do you guys know anything about that?"<br>I quickly glanced around at the others. "It's complicated," I said.  
>Sabrina sat down. "It's okay," she said. "I'm psychic, remember? I'll just look into the past." She leaned forward. "Later, though. What are you guys playing? I'm pretty good at cards."<br>Max elbowed her in the side. "That's because you're a psychic, dumbass!"  
>Peanut grinned. "We're playing Snakes. It's pretty easy; I'll teach it to you."<br>As the rest of them started explaining the game, I leaned back in my chair and sighed. This life was so simple. Why couldn't I just be happy, like everyone else?

* * *

><p>Twelve games later- all of which either Sabrina or Tarot won, despite their promises not to use their powers- we decided to walk down to the river. I fell in step in the back of the line, behind Sabrina.<br>After a few minutes, the group fell silent, preferring instead to gave silently at the beautiful scenery. I admit, it was beautiful, but now that Sabrina was here, I had something I wanted to ask her.  
>I grabbed her black, furry arm. "Psst, Sabrina!" I murmured. "Can I talk to you?"<br>She slowed her pace, obviously confused.  
>"Well, I know you're in a relationship with Fido, and I was wondering. You see, there's this boy I like, and I used to think he liked me too. But he's a dog, so at first I pushed him away, and now I realize that I like him, he's in a relationship with someone else."<br>Sabrina's lips pursed into a frown. "Honestly, honey, I think you're overreacting. Just _talk_ to him. Ask him out. If he says no, well, at least you know. If he says yes but it doesn't work out, tell people you make a mistake. And if it _does_ work out, well, you won't have kids, but love is love."  
>I blushed when she mentioned kids, but nodded. "That's good advice. Thanks."<br>She gave me a hug. "No problem. Now let's catch up with the rest!"

* * *

><p>When we got to the section of the river, the boys and girls split up to change into our swim clothes behind the cover of bushes.<br>When everyone had changed, we all jumped in the ice-cold water, splashed each other, climbed around on the rocks, and occasionally pretended to be retarded fish. After about an hour or so, Tarot and I climbed out and dried off, while Sabrina unpacked the picnic she'd brought.  
>"Oh, shit!" she breathed, opening the box. "I forgot something."<br>"What'd you forget?" Peanut asked, climbing up out of the water. Oh God, the way the wet fur clung to his skin…  
>"Umm…" Sabrina flushed. "The packing part." She held up the empty box. "I <em>thought<em> it felt light!"  
>"No problem," Max said. "I'll fish for us!" He threw his arm around me, holding up his other hand. "There's more than one thing these paws are good for," he added, winking at me.<br>Peanut and I both blushed a bright crimson. "I'll help, too," Peanut said, glancing in my direction. "My Wilderness Pup troop taught me how to catch fish _without_ using claws!"  
>Max snorted, holding back laughter. "Wilderness Pups? Wow." He shook his head. "Whatever. You've got yourself a competition!"<br>Peanut raised an eyebrow. "A competition?"  
>Max nodded, excited now. "A competition! Whoever catches the most fish by the end of the day gets…" He trailed off, thinking. "…Whoever wins gets the loser as their servant tomorrow!"<br>Peanut glanced at me for a moment, then glared back at Max. "You're on." They shook hands and had me count to three, signaling the start of the contest.

"One…"

"Two…"

"THREE!"


End file.
